Thursday, January 15, 2009

Feelin' the Burn

So, I took Tuesday off, and Wednesday I was due for a 4 miler. I hopped on the TM, set the incline to 1%, and settled in for a moderate, comfortable run. As I mentioned before, I'm trying to hold off on speedwork due to the large increases in mileage taking place. But I felt so good that I somehow finished in 35:44...my best time yet for that distance. I burned 522 cals, and had an average HR of 162. My peak HR was 179...I watched my HRM as my HR climbed up and up, and I was anxiously waiting for it to break into the 180s, but all that happened was that it went back down to 178. I thought that was pretty funny; it's like my body is not allowing my heart rate to get that high. It's good to train your heart at higher levels like that on occasion, though. I'm determined to break into the 180s very soon! But that would require more speedwork....

I actually woke up sore today. My quads, which rarely get sore from just running now, were feelin' the good old DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness). So I probably should have ignored my desires and skipped the weight training I did today, knowing I also had to run and attend a group fitness class. But it had been so long that I just couldn't resist anymore. I did only 15 minutes, but it was an intense 15 minutes, and I used every minute as best I could.

I then hopped on the TM, but kept the incline off for today. I had a scheduled 3 miler, but I actually only got through about 2.85 miles before I ran out of time and had to get to the class. The run was nothing to write home about; I kept a 10-minute-per-mile pace most of the time. Somehow it felt way harder than yesterday's run, even though it was shorter and slower (again...the heat. I also think that the foundation of this particular Gold's is slanted, because every time I get on one of the machines it feels slightly tilted to the left. Someone else I talked to had the same observation.).

After the run, I attended PiYo (pilated + yoga...get it?) with some lovely lady friends. Throughout my run I was using this class as motivation to finish strong, thinking I'd have all this time to stretch and relax. Wrong! PiYo kept me sweating, and was so challenging that I cheated on most of the moves! Good thing I stuck myself in the very back corner. I've taken a handful of pilates and yoga classes before, but none like this! Had I not been exhausted from everything else, I would have really enjoyed this class...but it was just plain not what I expected....it was too hard! :) I would like to add that I did fully enjoy most of the "Yo" portion of PiYo. I loved switching between warrior poses and learning new moves. It felt very empowering and graceful. It was the "Pi" portion that sucked.

I didn't wear my HRM in the class because I wasn't expecting to burn calories (hah), but combining the strength training and the run, I burned 634 cals, with a peak HR of 177 and average of 162.

It's so cold outside! Let this video warm your heart. This was taken at the Washington D.C. National Zoo 2 summers ago, when I had a serious crush on the baby panda Tai Shan. The fiance & I headed up there with his brother & sister in law, and they had to drag me out of the panda section. This is Tai Shan's mom, Mei Lan, enjoying an apple while I swooned on...I think you can see me wiping a tear away at the end! Haha. Sorry for the bad video quality; I think the fiance was too excited to keep the camera still:)